Tuesday, December 07, 2010

New World Record Set by Audubon

I'll have a full report on today's Hesketh sale at Sotheby's London later on, but in the meantime, the big news: the Shakespeare First Folio sold for £1,497,250 ($2,360,947), and the elephant folio of Audubon's Birds of America(drum roll please) made £7,321,250 ($11,544,553). That figure surpasses the $8.8 million benchmark set at Christie's in 2000 (for the last complete Birds of America to come up at auction), and should be a new record price for a printed book.

[Update: Getting word now that the buyer of the Audubon was London dealer Michael Tollemache, who said "I think it's priceless, don't you?". The First Folio was reportedly sold to an "unidentified U.S. dealer."]

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About Me

Reviews of books old and new; news and commentary on book history, library culture, digital humanities, archives and related subjects. Written by Jeremy Dibbell, a bibliophile, haunter of used bookstores, and Director of Communications and Outreach for Rare Book School. Email: philobiblos@gmail.com.